The High Court has ordered a retrial for the former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb after the Criminal Court dismissed 7 charges filed against the ex-VP by the state.
The High Court made the decision after the state appealed the Criminal Court’s decision earlier.
In the appeal hearing, the High Court bench said that when dismissing the charges filed against Adeeb, the criminal court failed to uphold correct legal procedures. The High Court ordered the lower court to hold a retrial for the former VP for the same charges.
The High Court sentence also says that the former VP should be remanded in custody until the legal procedures against him are concluded.
Identified as a key suspect in the MMPRC scandal, the state has charged the former VP with two counts of embezzlement, unlawful influence to obtain an unfair advantage, and misuse of his official capacity as well as two counts of money laundering.
The former VP agreed to these charges under a plea bargain with the State Prosecutors in exchange for him pleading guilty to these charges.
Criminal Court Presiding Judge Ahmed Rasheed had said that the 7 charges brought against him were placed unlawfully as the period to charge him for the crimes has passed. He had also questioned the legal validity of a plea bargain made between the former VP and the State.
The State then had filed an appeal against the Criminal Court’s decision at the High Court on the 14th of July.
Upon the decision by the Criminal Court, Adeeb was freed as the 33 years jail term sentence against him has also been canceled.
But the State had then requested the High Court to issue a travel ban against the VP and remand him in custody until the appeal hearing concluded.
